Is Disney too expensive for us Brits?

[ChipTheRescueRanger]

Prices have gone crazy all over the shop the hotel we used to stay in, in Mexico used to be about 2k pp for 10-14 days. Now your looking at 3k+ for a basic room.

With Disney/Florida prices can be all over the place. We have defiantly blown the budget for our trip. But the price of flights has now doubled to what we paid and hotels sold out. So I guess you book what you're happy with.

I dont think its value for money what we got. But its a price we are happy to pay for what we are getting. Could I have booked cheaper resorts yes. But id rather pay a little bit more to stay at places that look amazing. We rented DVC points what kept cost downs quite a lot. Adding 4 nights at Universal hasn't help with keeping costs down !

Partner is a teacher so we are stuck in school holidays what doesn't help things !

 

[Garyjames220]

Think you'd be lucky to do it 8k on site for a family of 4, impossible during school hols by the looks of things at the moment.

10 years from now you will look back and think it’s a bargain

 

[Blueslegend]

He’s already said he will keep it for ‘yield’. They tailor staffing exactly now (probably reduced) to the bare minimum. Many staff are called in as and when needed. The park pass system was never about limiting numbers for Covid as anyone who has been will tell you. It was a cover to increase ‘yield’ - Mr Chapek loves to say that word on earnings calls. I’d call it margin.
Part of the ‘yield increase’ strategy is seriously clipping the wings of APs and trying to stop many of them coming in- there is someone else willing to pay $200 a day.
They are riding the crest of a wave currently in parks due to pent up demand. That will fall back. Many, myself included, feel badly burned by the Parks this past year, with the experience well below what it was before, mainly due to Genie+ and lack of park investment over the years (Epcot a building site 4 years on with no real work witnessed, Tron 3 years, now put back some say to 2023, Guardians 4 years, still not open, Ratatouille finished after 2.5 years but purposely held back for the 50th), and general cost cutting. They could have chosen to fast track these developments like Universal did with Velociraptor. As a result, despite owning a large amount of DVC points, we won’t be back in the parks for the foreseeable.
The US market is more dependent on stock markets than we are, they seem to invest more, and spend it when the stock markets are up. The markets are currently taking something of a hammering. When the pent up demand goes, Bob Chapek may find he has alienated a little too many of his bread and butter customers. But he is making over $30m of bonus a year, despite the shares being in decline the past year when the markets have substantially bounced (until very recently) and Disney dividends have dwindled away, so what will he care.
They‘ll have another headache then with the massive Epic Universe opening. I’d love to see the competition ramped up.

Well said Wakey. Couldn’t agree more. As a fellow DVC Member I went in November 2021. Not happy with the new process i.e. Park Reservations, Genie + park hopping restrictions etc etc. I went back last month which simply reaffirmed by view that it is not for me. DVC Members do not vacation like this (at least I don’t). Not interested in run down parks with attractions I have done over and over again. Boring now and they expect me to pay more ? Deluded. I will use DVC as a base. Forget the parks. In fact forget the food. Overpriced and sub standard. I will spend more time at Universal and exploring Florida from now on. And, I don’t have to look at a phone all day. So much more chilled. That is what a vacation is supposed to be.

 

[zavandor]

Well said Wakey. Couldn’t agree more. As a fellow DVC Member I went in November 2021. Not happy with the new process i.e. Park Reservations, Genie + park hopping restrictions etc etc. I went back last month which simply reaffirmed by view that it is not for me. DVC Members do not vacation like this (at least I don’t). Not interested in run down parks with attractions I have done over and over again. Boring now and they expect me to pay more ? Deluded. I will use DVC as a base. Forget the parks. In fact forget the food. Overpriced and sub standard. I will spend more time at Universal and exploring Florida from now on. And, I don’t have to look at a phone all day. So much more chilled. That is what a vacation is supposed to be.

My last visit hasn't been as good as the previous ones, for the same reasons you're saying. I particularly dislike Genie+, not only because you have to pay for something that was included in the expensive ticket, but because it's convoluted, annoying, bugged, unpleasant to use. It should make your day better, not more complicated.
However, I wouldn't keep DVC if you plan to use it just as a base to do other things. You could sell, buy a cheaper timeshare and make a profit or stay in better accommodations. I believe the MF for a DVC studio are not far from those of a 2BR at Bonnet Creek, which is lovely, onsite and very cheap on the resale market. If my next DVC vacation won't be better, I might sell one of my two contracts for double the amount I paid, buy another timeshare and reduce the number of days I stay at Disney. Epic Universe might be the last push I need for this plan.

 

[stephk1981]

My father and his wife did 2 weeks at BC this past October it cost them over 15000 pounds. They are coming again in May, instead of staying on site they will be staying with us for a week, and then renting a home on the beach for a week. Disney used to offer amazing deals for uk residents, I doubt they will be back any time soon. It has been so crowded even in past ' down' times. I think we all miss the disney of the past.

 

[Blueslegend]

My last visit hasn't been as good as the previous ones, for the same reasons you're saying. I particularly dislike Genie+, not only because you have to pay for something that was included in the expensive ticket, but because it's convoluted, annoying, bugged, unpleasant to use. It should make your day better, not more complicated.
However, I wouldn't keep DVC if you plan to use it just as a base to do other things. You could sell, buy a cheaper timeshare and make a profit or stay in better accommodations. I believe the MF for a DVC studio are not far from those of a 2BR at Bonnet Creek, which is lovely, onsite and very cheap on the resale market. If my next DVC vacation won't be better, I might sell one of my two contracts for double the amount I paid, buy another timeshare and reduce the number of days I stay at Disney. Epic Universe might be the last push I need for this plan.

Thanks Zavandor. I get what you are saying. In fact I’ve already sold 2 Contracts. Call me sentimental but I can’t sell my 2 original ones at Wilderness. I bought these 13 years ago. They have paid for themselves 10 times over. Great exchange rate and points cost at the time. The thing is and put the current deficiencies to one side, we have met so many people and made so many friends during our November and January trips. That’s the real magic and not ready to give that up quite yet. Even Chapek can’t monetise that !

 

[Dreams&wishes]

But beyond the huge price increase. It's just the introduction of Genie plus that puts me off completely, I don't want to wake up at 7am every morning during my holidays and living with the anxiety of managing to score a LL reservation. I much prefered to have my day already planned and chilled knowing what I had booked that day.

 

[marcais]

But beyond the huge price increase. It's just the introduction of Genie plus that puts me off completely, I don't want to wake up at 7am every morning during my holidays and living with the anxiety of managing to score a LL reservation. I much prefered to have my day already planned and chilled knowing what I had booked that day.

I think that's what's done it for me. The incremental chipping away of the value bugged me, but Genie+ has killed off my enthusiasm for WDW on this trip. I'd be up at 7am anyway, but the prospect of having to get on MDE at that time and compete against everyone trying to book stuff at that time rather than sitting around having breakfast and taking it easy doesn't fill me with joy.

To the extent that I've booked the park tickets but haven't yet added Genie+ to my booking. And part of that reason is because we're unlikely to be using the parks on 14 of our 18 days precisely because of how unappealing it is starting to seem.

I may well cave and add it before we go, but that's going to depend on feedback I get from people I know who are going over Easter. I may just add it individually for 1 day each at HS, MK, and AK.

 

[zavandor]

I may well cave and add it before we go, but that's going to depend on feedback I get from people I know who are going over Easter. I may just add it individually for 1 day each at HS, MK, and AK.

For Ak it's unecessary. If you want to splurge, then get a FoP reservation, but since that is not included in Genie+, you can do easily ewverything else arriving at the start of the early entry, do River Journey first, then Safari and then you're ahead of the curve. If you arrive super early and you're one of the first on FoP you can still stick to this plan and do everything, otherwise FoP as last thing in the evening.
A day at the studios without Genie+ is nightmare. And it's stressful even with Genie+.
Mk is the only park where G+ actually works. There are many attractions so slots don't run out super early as at the Studios and you can get a lot done with it.